Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

PanArmenian.net reports that Ogün Samast has been imprisoned while the prosecution prepares it case. Samast has already confessed to the murder of Hrant Dink in Istanbul last Friday. If found guilty by the court, Samast will face a sentence of 18-24 years in prison as he is legally considered a minor and therefore can not be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Interestingly, citing a PanArmenian.net reports as well as other sources, Gateway Pundit reports that those considered responsible for Dink’s murder were also possibly connected to the murder of an Italian Catholic Priest in Turkey last year. As with Dink, Father Santaro was killed by a minor with links to radical Islamic groups.

Indeed, this possible connection has given rise to an alarming but thought-provoking opinion piece in the Turkish Daily News. As mentioned already on this blog, the concern is that ultra-nationalism is on the rise in Turkey, and actually in response to the country’s move westwards.

About a year ago, in this column I wrote: “…This is where I see danger, ultra-nationalists becoming Islamists and Islamists becoming ultra-nationalists. … These usually split groups may in the future get mixed together and comprise a huge anti-Western bloc…” Ogün Samast who pulled the trigger is no different than his mentor who had bombed a McDonald’s restaurant because the eatery was “a symbol of American imperialism;” or Alpaslan Arslan who less than a year ago shot up a chamber of supreme judges because they had banned the Islamic headscarf; or the teenager who killed a Catholic priest because the man was “an enemy of Islam;” or even anyone who belonged to the crowd of a few thousand people who wanted to lynch a handful of youths because they protested prison conditions. Samast is only an example of a dare-devil/loser among a bunch of nearly four million similar young Turkish men ages 15-19 whose cultural tradition is no richer than the book “Those Crazy Turks” and the film “Valley of the Wolves.”

Balkan Analysis also looks at the environment that bred killers such as Samust as well as the possible involvement of elements within the Turkish government and military. The same article also examines the murder of Father Santoro , and counters claims from some Armenians that Dink was actually murdered on the implicit instructions of the State, rather than the result of Turkey’s own internal problems.

The assassination of Hrant Dink, one of the most prominent Turkish Armenians and the editor-in-chief of bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos outside his newspaper’s office was a deplorable act by any definition. Yet it was not an unexpected one, given the selection of the target and its expected/actual impact on Turkish society and on Turkey’s position vis-à-vis the issue of the ‘Armenian genocide’ that has taken on new proportions internationally of late, with the US Congress weighing a resolution on the issue. Ankara has already warned about the implications of American genocide recognition for bilateral relations.

This is at least the thesis of a good percentage of the population in Turkey, where all too often such murky crimes are blamed ultimately on malevolent and all-powerful outside forces- with the result that it is rare that full investigations are ever executed.

[…]

This expression – karanlik eller in the Turkish – is the metaphor mostly used to refer to what the public views as the sinister masterminds behind the scenes. It is used in general to refer to those who allegedly always wanted to stir things up in Turkey. Even officials have used the “dark hands” metaphor after unsolved assassinations, bombings and the like. And there have been more than a few over the past year or so.

Fortunately, it seems like the killing did not breed the expected conflict between the Turkish Armenians and the Turks, mostly due to the fact that both sides are more aware than ever of the detrimental results that possible provocations could cause. Regarding the killing of Mr. Dink, the Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II noted, “[t]his assassination is a deplorable act that targets our country’s stability and its international relations.”[1] Moreover, regardless of their ethnic background, thousands took the street and protested the Dink killing by shouting “We are all Hrant, We are all Armenian!” Further, the fact that the killer was identified and reported to the police by his very own father suffices to suggest that the Dink killing has so far failed to cause social conflict between ethnic Armenian Turks and the Turks.

[…]

The assassination of Hrant Dink has come during a time when the Armenian Diaspora is preparing to wage full battle against Turkey. On February 8, 2007, a resolution that recognizes the Armenian genocide and foresees certain sanctions on Turkey will be voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives, where long-time supporter of the so-called resolution Nancy Pelosi of California is the incoming Speaker. Bolstering the correlation of the timing of the Dink killing with the upcoming voting on the resolution, Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) noted, “Hrant Dink’s murder is tragic proof that the Turkish government –through its campaign of denial, threats and intimidation against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide – continues to fuel the same hatred and intolerance that initially led to this crime against humanity more than 90 years ago.”[8]

Ironically, however, as Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II noted, Hrant Dink was known as the foremost Armenian Turkish intellectual, and one disliked by the Armenian Diaspora due to his efforts to promote dialogue between Turkey and Armenia, and settle the conflict over historical disputes through open intellectual exchanges. Nevertheless, Dink’s death presents a matchless opportunity for the Armenian Diaspora to exploit against Turkey at this crucial time. Again, another mysterious death at a politically sensitive moment for Turkey- the fourth in just 15 months.

Actually, there’s no doubt in my mind that Dink was murdered because he was Armenian and because he was being prosecuted under Article 301 for insulting “Turkishness.” However, I also have no doubt that his death does not suit the interests of a secular Turkey that is looking to become part of the European Union. Indeed, the failure to act upon this murder will be the end of Turkey’s European hopes.

Certainly, his murder does more to bolster international efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide than to prevent it. Balkan Analysis also mentions this fact, although the quotes used to justify this claim are somewhat insulting to Dink’s family, I think. But, as the article concludes, we may never know the real reason for Dink’s death.

Former MIT (Turkish National Intelligence Service) officer Mahir Kaynak suggests, “[H]rant Dink’s killing would benefit the Armenian Diaspora in the United States. He was the right choice to start a long-term campaign against Turkey”. Similarly, former Chief of Intelligence Bulent Orakoglu stresses that the assassination of Dink is a signal for similar future killings: “such assassinations were already expected starting in early 2007. Creating chaos is the strategy of certain powers.”

Along similar lines, Retired Lt. General Edip Baser, Special Coordinator for Terrorism, views the killing as a deliberate effort to divert the AK Party government’s attention away from the situation in Northern Iraq.

Certainly the failure to bring the mastermind(s) of Hrant Dink assassination to justice will weaken the AK Party government’s public image as it nears the presidential and parliamentary election domestically and Turkey’s position vis-à-vis the genocide allegations internationally. Perhaps it was such a motivation that led the so-called “dark hands” to kill this prominent Turkish Armenian journalist- if they actually did, of course. If history is any judge, we may never know.

Indeed, in the Turkish Daily News op-ed mentioned above, it seems that everybody has a theory as to who or what was behind Dink’s murder, and why. Reminds me of a thousand and one other conspiracy theories in circulation surrounding the assassination of JFK and the 27 October 1999 killings in the Armenian National Assembly.

A teenager, according to the full forensic report and according to that same teenagers own testimony. It was “The murderer state,” according to left-wing fanatics and Dink, who betrayed the lands where “he was fed,” himself, according to right-wing fanatics.

The secularist state establishment, according to the Islamists. The Islamist government, according to secularists. The “deep state,” according to deep state-connoisseurs. Foreign secret services, according to conspiracy-connoisseurs. “The blood-thirsty Turks - the descendants of genocide-makers,” according to the Turk-hating Armenians. The Armenians, according to Armenian-hating Turks. Xenophobic Turks, according to the separatist Kurds. Separatist Kurds, according to xenophobic Turks. Article 301 and the jurists who convicted Dink of insulting Turkishness, according to the liberals. The list of potential culprits, as newspapers read, can be widened endlessly. During the near-civil war of the 1970s various groups of ultra-nationalist and Islamist Turks literally slaughtered each other on the streets (when they did not slaughter the common enemy that was the communists); the ultra-nationalists killed Islamists because they highlighted their Muslimness before their Turkishness, and, likewise, Islamists killed the ultra-nationalists because they highlighted their Turkishness before their Muslimness.

Regardless, one thing is for sure. That is, the Turkish authorities must investigate the murder of Hrant Dink to the best of their abilities. Certainly, Europe and the rest of the world will be watching. However, I also believe that it must also take certain measures to address the rise of ultra-nationalism in Turkey as well as to repeal Article 301 and make conciliatory moves towards Armenia.

iArarat posts an editorial from the Boston Globe that says Turkey must now come to terms with its own past and forge a new contemporary identity.

An editorial that apears in today’s Boston Globe calls on Turkey for once and for all to deal with the demons of unchecked and dogmtic Kemalo-nationalism: “To gain entry to the European Union, Turkey’s political leaders will have to conduct a broad educational campaign, uprooting myths about the mass murder of Armenians and the military’s dirty war against the Kurds. Before Turks can take on a new European identity, they will have to redefine what it means to be Turkish.”

The editorial further elaborates on the existential dangers of being a non-Turk which has been on a steep rise for quite some time and which led to Hrant Dink’s murder and threatens the well being of other intellectual freewheelers.

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog as well, Blogrel says that opening the border might also be a good start. It also reports that the Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister might have raised this issue when he visited Turkey to attend Dink’s funeral.

After visiting the parent of murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink Armenia’s deputy foreign minister Arman Kirakosian announced that Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions. Although I did not find any reports in the Armenian media regarding the announcement of high rank Armenian official made in Istambul till the moment I’m writing this lines, I have no basis to doubt that.

[…]

Of course we have been hearing similar announcements multiple times before and everybody understands that the decision to establish diplomatic relations at this point lies entirely with the Turkish authorities, as was the decision to break those relations and close the border back in April 1993.

[…]

And the fact is - when I concider the economic benefits that the open border can bring to thousands of Armenian and Turkish people in newly created jobs and gains resulting from reduced transportation costs of basic goods, I do not care anymore who gains what - for this is what Hrant Dink’s fight was all about - reestablishment of trust and relations between the people of these two countries. Face it - we are here, in this region, with this neighbor countries - and we have nowhere to go!

Certainly, the worsening and continued lack of relations with Turkey can’t benefit anyone apart from nationalists on both sides of the border as well as in the Diaspora. Blogrel links to information about the message sent by the Armenian Foreign Minister to Dink’s family to show that the Armenian Government is treading a careful line so as not to destroy any chances of conciliation between the two countries.

Minister Oskanian, who was in Moscow for the regular meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, sent a personal condolence letter to Hrant Dink’s widow Raqel and the family.

“It is with deep sorrow that I write this letter,” he said. “We all join you in mourning this cruel, unnecessary, unimaginable, immeasurable loss. Hrant was more than the editor of a newspaper. He embodied the dreams of an entire nation. And he dreamt big. He believed in the goodness of mankind and its ability to bring change. He fought vigorously for individual freedom and liberty as instruments for change and progress.

Minister Oskanian’s letter continued. “And because he believed, he spoke and wrote with passion, thus converting many, near and far, into believers. Today, it is these believers who will carry forward his dream to be able to freely speak the truth, remember a shared, if painful, history, to recount the horrors of genocide in order to reject and condemn it once and for all, and to make new history together. Armenians and Turks together can ensure Hrant’s desire for peace across borders, dialogue among peoples and understanding between individuals.”

The Minister stressed that, “Indeed, we have a responsibility to do this so that his death takes on meaning, just as his life was so meaningful and significant for so many. We have a further responsibility to make sure that the life we live together, in the same region, is a life of peace and understanding.”

[…]

From Moscow, the Minister commented, “We were conducting dialogue to reach peace with Azerbaijan in Moscow, while an advocate of dialogue and peace, shot dead, was being laid to rest in Turkey. I couldn’t help but think that violence, war, extremism are not the answers to any of the region’s problems. I wonder if we will look back to this day and see Hrant’s death as the catalyst for a new hope for the region.”

Other appear to be thinking along the same lines too. The Armenian Economist, for example, says that it’s time for Turkey to unconditionally open its border with Armenia.

In one of his last writings, Hrant asked that the Diaspora turn its energies to the newly independent state of Armenia. The government of Turkey has a tremendous role to play here. This blockade, the ultimate symbol of intolerance towards Armenians, should be lifted immediately and unconditionally.

[…]

The words that I read from the press in Turkey are very encouraging. But actions speak louder. For starters, when will the government of Turkey lift its blockade of Armenia? When will it stop adding fuel and start putting out the flames of intolerance towards Armenians? How many more Hrants have to be sacrificed before the decent citizens of Turkey make their government do the right thing?

Perhaps the timing of this news report is coincidental, but even if it is, one thing is for sure. This issue of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey, as well as encouraging an environment of conciliation, cooperation and dialogue between Armenian and Turk is now of paramount importance.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. confirms that the regional cooperation should be obligatory for all states of the region, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Anthony Godfrey said in Yerevan. At that he refrained from giving preference to the Kars-Gyumri or Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railroad. “The U.S. government would not like transport communications to bypass Armenia. However, if Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey wish to build a railway without U.S. assistance, we cannot prevent it. Nevertheless, I emphasize that the U.S. policy is targeted at integration between all states of the region,” he said.

As to the possibility of opening the Armenian-Turkish border, Mr Godfrey remarked it will bring stability to the region. “Artificial borders and dissociation do not contribute to cooperation, stability and security in the South Caucasus,” said he.

As Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said, perhaps Hrant Dink’s murder at the hands of extremists in Turkey will become the catalyst for that. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, that will be a fitting epitaph for Hrant Dink and everything he stood for. The New York Times has already reported that some form of conciliation has happened as a result of the shock experienced by many after Dink’s murder.

Certainly, the response from Turkish bloggers and columnists has largely been sympathetic. Now, a young blogger in Armenia offers her own opinion and feelings on the matter.

Which Armenian would ever suppose that a Turk would go out for a demonstration with posters “We all are Armenians”, “We all are Dinks”? Stuck in this country with only news on the political relations between two countries and biased claims for acknowledging the genocide, against which incidentally Hrant’s fight was, we would only have the anger, resentment and disdain for the other nation. But what happened? Has something really moved? Did Hrant Dink’s conscious death really make a bridge between the chasms created between these nations?

And I dare say - yes, it did. As far as I see those excited people flooding the streets of Istanbul, Turks and Armenians gathered at the same place with one and the same goal – justice, understanding, freedom and Peace. As far as I see the reaction of Armenians, my relatives, my neighbors, my friends and my acquaintances, who before were negative towards the Turkish people, but now their actions, attitudes and emotions are being changed. The ice is melting…

[…]

People gathered in the streets of Turkey who before were shut for expressing their attitudes now had an opportunity to shout out to the world “We are not enemies, this is your land, come and live here!”. And people gathered in Armenia for the first time realize, that they are people in Turkey who have other views, who are sincere in their calls, and the pleasant uncommonness of this scene gives way to the Armenians to ponder as well and to re-estimate their attitudes.

[…]

With my romanticized wishes and optimistic views, I sincerely believe that the Dink’s murder opened a new page in the history of these nations, and that this tragic loss will announce, if hasn’t yet, the reconciliation process of these nations. And doesn’t actually matter what the politicians, the governments, committees or other functionaries may discuss on this issue, because not a law or article can change or cultivate what people have in their hearts, which is, as proved during these days, sincere, genuine, pure and true. Nothing but a true spontaneous emotional reaction, the witness of which we all became, can contribute to the resolution of the conflict. Yes, the bridge is built, not on the political level, but between the hearts of these two nations. And isn’t this the most important? Isn’t this what Dink always aspired to? Unfortunately, he had to pay a high price for it…

We can only hope that Zarchka is right. In a sense, conciliation between Armenian and Turk would also prove Dink right as well. A lifetime spent in the service of peace between nations to be ended by an enemy of the democratic principles that Dink, as well as many other Turks and Kurds, fought long and hard for. Perhaps the only rightful outcome of this tragedy is that Dink’s dreams come to fruition.

The ball is now well and truly in Turkey’s court.

Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007